A political email that was circulated to the work emails of some employees at the Ysleta Independent School District was not sent or created by the district, officials said Tuesday in response to allegations that district equipment and time were being used for political purposes.

Walter Miller, mayor of Horizon City, said he sent the email as a private citizen through his personal email account.

The email, sent last week, requested support for State Board of Education candidate Martha Dominguez. The email also attached Dominguez's biography that detailed her accomplishments as an educator at the school district;, her service as the president of the Ysleta Federation of Teachers;, and her involvement in other organizations.

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Dominguez is a YISD employee. She is the Democratic challenger for the State Board of Education District 1 seat. She is seeking to oust Republican incumbent Carlos "Charlie" Garza, a Clint Independent School District administrator.

During the Democratic primary, Dominguez tried to withdraw from the race but didn't do so in time. Now she is campaigning for the seat.

Election Day is Nov. 6, and early voting will continue through Nov. 2.

Miller said he sent the emails because he and his wife, Ann Miller, know Dominguez and have supported her from the start.

Ann Miller, is employed by YISD as a board liaison for Superintendent Michael Zolkoski.

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"I did not use government resources or my Horizon City email address," Walter Miller said. "We sent the email to friends that we knew in the (Ysleta) district, relatives and everyone we thought would care."

According to the Texas Election Code, an officer or an employee of a state agency or political subdivision may not knowingly use or authorize the use of an internal mail system for the distribution of political advertising.

Because the Millers acted as private citizens, they did not commit a violation.

In addition, the above prohibition does not include emails, said Tim Sorrells, general counsel for the Texas Ethics Commission.

"Emails do not fall within the political advertising definition," Sorrells said. "If there were a violation, then it would be a question of whether it was a misuse of government property. But the election code excludes emails specifically."

And emails sent to district email addresses are arguably not impermissible use of district funds, according to the Texas Association of School Boards.

While there might not have been a violation, Garza believes the email was a way to generate support for Dominguez at the YISD.

"I think they are reacting to the fact that the Ysleta Teachers Association endorsed me, and they want to try to minimize their impact," Garza said. "I'm stunned that this would be remotely possible because again this shows a lack of ethics by district. É This person has the district email, and that is something I can't do as an official. How is it that I can't send them an update in Austin, but a private person can get the information and send that (message)."

Dominguez said she knows the Millers but was unaware of an email and did not receive one, either.

Patricia Ayala, YISD spokeswoman, said the email had nothing to do with the district.

"No district equipment or personnel were involved," Ayala said. "The emails were not sent out by district employees. Sometimes we do get incoming emails from private citizens. But how they get the district accounts we're not sure. But again, this did not come from the district or district employees."

Walter Miller reiterated that he and his wife took every precaution to purge all emails tied to a governmental entity.

"I'm not going to say we didn't miss one," Walter Miller said. "But we did make every effort to purge every government and .edu email from the list."